


Lights Are Shining Everywhere (But You Are The Brightest)

by HumanJukebox



Category: Emmerdale
Genre: Christmas, Emotioning, F/F, Fluff, Humor, Many Eye-Rolls courtesy of one Miss Dingle, au-ish, festive fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-06
Updated: 2019-12-06
Packaged: 2021-02-25 23:54:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,511
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21694174
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HumanJukebox/pseuds/HumanJukebox
Summary: The village gets ready to light up for the festive season, but not everyone is in the Christmas spirit. Maybe it just takes a certain someone to warm Charity's heart enough for her to take a chance.
Relationships: Charity Dingle/Vanessa Woodfield
Comments: 15
Kudos: 154





	Lights Are Shining Everywhere (But You Are The Brightest)

**Author's Note:**

> The first of a couple Christmas-themed one-shots I'm working on. 
> 
> Very grateful for my beta-reader, who also helped me with the summary because that's still a struggle at times, I would've just put 'Here's some Fluff and Humor with a side of Emotioning for you' but didn't think that would actually work 
> 
> Hope you enjoy this one as much as I enjoyed writing it :) 
> 
> Need-to-know Notes:   
> Slightly AU-ish, as in Charity and Vanessa didn't get locked in the cellar in Oct 2017  
> They've been secretly 'seeing' each other for about 4-5 months  
> The boys are three years old  
> Frank is alive

**Lights Are Shining Everywhere (But You Are The Brightest)**

The Woolpack is buzzing with villagers as they all enjoy some drinks together before the annual ‘Christmas Lights Switch-On’. Charity and Chas are both busy serving behind the bar, while Matty runs around taking orders from the tables. 

There is joyous chatter going around, everyone is excited for the village to be turned into an illuminated little winter wonderland. Well, everyone except for Charity. She doesn’t really get what the fuss is all about. It are just some lights, usually the same as every year. 

Charity has been rolling her eyes almost all day as person after person talked about the switch-on. And when Tracy pretty much bounces towards the bar for a refill, Charity has to bite her tongue to keep any comment from slipping out. 

Chas had already chastised her a couple times for her snarky and sarcastic comments, and Charity wanted to avoid another telling off. 

“I’m so excited!” Tracy cheerfully exclaims. Charity silently nods her head while she pours her another white wine, only half-listening to what Tracy is saying. “This is just the best time of year! And once the lights are all on, it’ll officially be Christmas.”

Charity tilts her head at that as she sets the glass down in front of her. “I think you need to check your calendar, because Christmas is  _ officially _ on the 25th. Maybe you can count in the 24th and maybe even the 26th, but definitely not today.”

Tracy simply rolls her eyes at her and lets out a sigh. “Do you always have to be like this?”

“Like what?” Charity looks up at her.

“So, y’know…” Tracy takes a moment to decide what word to use before settling on “Negative.”

Charity simply shrugs her shoulders, not really bothered by it. “It’s in my blood.” 

Tracy tilts her head. “Isn’t your blood mostly alcohol?”

Charity points at the glass Tracy just picked up and narrows her eyes at her. “Pot. Kettle. Black.”

“Whatever.” Tracy rolls her eyes and walks off with her glass of wine. Charity just grabs a cloth and wipes the bar in front of her. 

“Do I really need to keep telling you to just keep your gob shut? Just because you dislike Christmas doesn't mean others do too,” Chas tells her sharply as she walks past her and around the bar to collect some empty glasses from the tables. 

Charity lets out a sigh as she lets her head fall back and looks up at the ceiling. Just one more hour and then she can have her break while everyone freezes to death outside looking at some stupid lights. 

“Well, don’t you just look the picture of pure enthusiasm.” 

Vanessa’s voice makes her snap her head forward, the small smile tugging at her lips an immediate reflex at just hearing or seeing the blonde. Charity quickly tries to look neutral again, but the smile on Vanessa’s lips tells her she still saw it.

“I can be  _ very _ enthusiastic. If the company and timing is right,” Charity states with a wink. Vanessa simply shakes her head with a little smile.

“Do you ever turn off?” Vanessa asks and knows from the glint in Charity’s eyes that her choice of words wasn’t the best. 

“Not when you’re around, no.” Charity wiggles her eyebrows a few times and Vanessa shakes her head again. Easing up on Vanessa, she grabs a glass from below the bar. ”Want a pint, babe?”

“Thanks,” Vanessa replies as she stares at Charity’s hands. It’s kind of ridiculous really, how infatuated she’s become. How she wishes that she could just hold Charity’s hands all the time, or touch Charity’s skin, or play with her hair. Or have Charity trail her fingers over her own hands.

Ever since their drunken ‘fumble’ four months ago, they’d been secretly sleeping together. And it had been amazing. Vanessa never expected Charity to be so soft, so gentle with her. Everything about it━the sex, the touching, the looks━is just... She doesn’t even have a word for it.

It was hard for both of them to stop touching each other, or to break up their kisses whenever someone was close by. 

But it wasn’t just a sexual connection between them. They’d also have lunch or dinner together, hang out together while the boys had a playdate, and on a couple occasions even cuddled together on the couch while watching a movie or some documentary that Charity’s apparently obsessed with. 

It was all rather nice. It kind of felt like a relationship, but they hadn’t put any words or name to it. And Vanessa wasn’t sure how to bring that up either. The discovery and realisation of her liking women wasn’t new. She’d had feelings for women before, but had always pushed them away.

Now however… 

A hand waving in front of her pulls her from her staring━and from her thoughts. When she looks up, she sees Charity staring at her with a smirk on her face. Her eyes only carry a little hint of concern in them, something Charity is good at hiding away, but Vanessa has found easier and easier to distinguish. 

“Enjoying the view?” Charity asks before leaning forward “I mean, if you’re  _ that _ obsessed with my hands that you need to stare, I can just give you a show later. You can even get a t━”

“Charity!” Vanessa shushes her and takes a sip from the cold beer to try and cool her face and body down a little. 

The flirtation was nothing new. Charity has always been a flirty person, and she’s seen it many times, but it’s new that it’s directed at her. Vanessa isn’t really used to it. Being flirted with. 

“Alright, alright. I’ll stop.” Charity raises her hands up before dropping them on to the top of the bar again and sending her another one of those winks that never fail to make her knees weak. “For now.” 

“You’re terrible,” Vanessa says and the two of them simply keep their soft gazes locked on each other, caught up in their own little bubble. 

“That’s what I told her too!” Tracy’s loud voice suddenly chimes from beside Vanessa and their bubble breaks. They both quickly look away from each other; Vanessa into her pint glass while Charity sends Tracy a glare.

Either Tracy is too buzzed to care or she doesn’t notice Charity’s look before she turns towards Vanessa. “I’m so excited! Are you excited? Where’s Johnny? He must be excited too.”

Charity’s eyes widen at the speed with which Tracy got those words out and carefully reaches for the almost empty wine glass in her hand. ”I think you’ve had enough. Did you even take a breath just now?”

Tracy pulls the glass out of Charity’s reach and glares at her before turning back towards Vanessa, opting to ignore the barmaid. Charity rolls her eyes and moves towards Jimmy to give him a refill. She keeps her attention on Tracy and Vanessa’s conversation as she fills the pint glass.

“Maybe you should slow down on the drinks,” Vanessa starts, but the look on Tracy’s face makes Vanessa raise her hands in defense. “But yeah, I’m looking forward to the lights. Johnny is too, although I don’t really know where he is right now. Last I saw him he was on dad’s lap.”

“Oh, well he isn’t there now,” Tracy says as she shakes her head. “I was just with dad and Megan. I didn’t see Johnny with them.”

Before Vanessa can start to panic, Charity chimes in. “He’s in the back with Moses and Noah. Something about a dinosaur Moz wanted to show him. Said he told you, though, when I asked him.”

Vanessa shakes her head. “He didn’t.”

Tracy simply stares at the two in confusion. “Since when are those two so close?”

Vanessa and Charity share a panicked look before Charity quickly replies. “Since they started going to the same nursery.”

Charity’s quick thinking helps Vanessa’s racing heart slow down. She doesn’t even really know why she was panicking about Tracy knowing the boys were friends. They saw each other five times a week, it would be a totally natural progression.

But the fact that they’ve been hanging around with each other outside of nursery because she and Charity are, well,  _ something _ , that’s not something they are ready to share. Maybe. Either way, it’s not really anyone’s business. 

“Oh. Okay.” Tracy simply nods, her head is too hazy and she’s too excited to really think about that bit of information too much. She finishes her glass of wine before placing the empty glass on the bar and looking up at Vanessa. “Anyways, come find me when you get outside.”

“I will,” Vanessa replies, but Tracy is already walking away. 

Watching Charity move around behind the bar is a very welcome distraction from the anxious thoughts swirling through Vanessa’s head. She nurses her own pint while she watches Charity pull one for Rodney. There’s just something about watching her work that she finds fascinating. Vanessa doesn’t really know what it is; maybe it’s just because she could watch Charity do anything. 

_ God, she has it bad. _

Charity finishes pouring a glass of wine and makes her way back over towards Vanessa again. Before she can say anything, they hear Frank yell Vanessa’s name. 

“Sorry. I’m being summoned,” Vanessa says with an apologetic smile, having wanted to continue her chat with Charity. There’s a question she wants to ask her, but for some reason she’s scared of the answer. Instead she asks, “Are you going outside to look at the Christmas lights too later?”

“And catch hypothermia? Yeah, no thanks,” Charity answers.

“You’re so dramatic,” Vanessa chuckles, trying to hide the sinking feeling in her stomach. Charity simply shrugs her shoulders. 

“I just don’t get why you’d want to stand out in the cold and look at some daft lights. It’s just not my thing. I’d rather stay inside, where it’s warm.”

Vanessa’s small smile drops a little. She’d hoped to watch the lights being turned on with Charity, had wanted to ask her to stand with her and Johnny, but now it looks like that’s not going to happen.

“Oh, right. Okay. I get that.” There’s a slight hint of disappointment in Vanessa’s eyes, and Charity feels bad that she’s the reason for it. She wants to say something to make it go away, but Vanessa is already leaning back from the bar, pint glass in hand. “I’m gonna head over to dad. Could you send Johnny over in about 15 minutes?”

“Sure,” Charity softly whispers back. 

Vanessa’s voice is equally soft. “Maybe I’ll see you afterwards, then.”

Charity watches Vanessa walk away with a sinking feeling in her stomach. She hates seeing that dejected and sad look in Vanessa’s eyes. She hates it even more when she’s the reason for it.

When they’d started sleeping together, Charity never expected to actually  _ like _ Vanessa. It was just supposed to be a bit of fun. Them hooking up whenever they wanted or needed to. But her feelings went way deeper than she thought they would.

She actually likes hanging around Vanessa. Likes hearing the daft stories Vanessa shares with her about her work, like pets with ridiculous names like Augustus the chinchilla and Manfred the rat. Likes the way her eyes light up when she talks about Johnny.

“Oi! Are you gonna do some work or what?” Chas’ voice suddenly pipes up behind her again. Charity lets out a big sigh and tries hard not to reply with something she might come to regret.

She plasters on a fake cheery smile and makes her way over to the other end of the bar to take orders and refills. She goes through the motions━she could pull the perfect pint in her sleep━while trying to think of what she can do to make it up to Vanessa, even though she’s not totally sure what she did or said wrong. 

XOX

Charity makes her way through the back of the pub. When she enters the living room, she can’t help but smile at the two boys who are playing with Moses’ toys. She does roll her eyes at the mess the two had managed to make.

“Mummy! We see the lights now?” Moses pipes up when he sees Charity standing in the doorway. 

“Soon, yeah. Noah’s gonna go outside with you.” Charity unwraps his arms from around her legs and crouches down so he can get the hug he wants. Noah lets out a grumpy groan and she sends him a pointed look. 

“Hey, Johnnybobs,” she says when she sees Johnny staring at her. “Your mummy is waiting in the bar for you. You gonna come with me?”

Johnny, shy as he is, simply nods his head before standing up. He then stands still again and looks at all the toys on the floor before pointing at them. “Put in the box?”

Of course he would ask if he needs to clean up.

“No, that’s okay, Noah will help.”

“What?” Noah sits up straight and glares at his mum, who simply glares back at him until he finally relents. “Fine.”

_ ‘That’s what you get for skiving off school and lying to me,’  _ Charity thinks to herself as Johnny makes his way over to them. He leans into her side and she wraps her arm around him.

“You go watch too?” Johnny asks before putting his index and middle fingers into his mouth━a habit Vanessa is working hard on trying to get him to break━and staring up at her with his big blue eyes. 

“You mean, watch the lights?” Charity asks him with a raised eyebrow and waits until he nods his head. “Outside? In the cold?”

“Yes! Mummy too!” Moses cheers from her other side, before adding a soft “Please.”

Charity purses her lips. “ _ Now _ you know when to say please. Cheeky little…” 

Moses giggles at her before the two toddlers turn to look and stare at her with their big puppy eyes, silently pleading with her to come outside with them. Charity rolls her eyes and lets out a deep sigh. “I guess I’m going outside to watch the lights with you.”

She gets two excited cheers and smiles when they wrap their arms around her. She winces a little when Johnny’s wet fingers make contact with her neck. Pulling back she looks at Moses again. “You go help Noah put your toys away while I take Johnny over to Vanessa. I’ll be back in a bit, okay, baba?”

Moses nods before running over to Noah, who’s sitting on his knees on the floor. He runs straight into him and almost knocks the two of them over from the sheer force of impact. 

Charity can’t help but smile before she stands up again. Johnny immediately reaches out to take her hand and together they walk into the pub. As soon as Johnny spots his mummy standing at the end of the bar, he takes off. 

“Mummy!” He calls out loudly as he crashes into Vanessa’s legs. Vanessa stares down at him with a big smile on her face.

_ ‘That smile could light up the room,’ _ Charity thinks to herself and then promptly rolls her eyes at herself.  _ You’re getting too bleepin’ soft. _

Vanessa looks up at her and the smile on her face seems to grow softer. Her eyes seem softer too, and it almost looks like there’s a hint of lo━No, it can’t be. Can it? She’s seen that look before. But before she can start panicking and overthinking it, she hears Johnny call for his mum’s attention again and then the two are walking off together. 

Maybe. Just maybe… There’s a thought whirling around in her head. Should she… Could she… 

XOX

Everybody is standing outside, huddled close together to try and keep the evening chill out while they wait for the lights to be turned on. It snowed a couple of inches last night and the whole village is sprinkled in a layer of white. 

A couple of the kids are running around, throwing snow at each other, while Doug and Rodney mess about with the last couple of cables. Why they hadn’t done that sooner, no one knows.

Vanessa had tried to look for Tracy, but she hadn’t seen her anywhere when she’d gotten outside so she’d just walked over to stand in the middle━giving her and Johnny the best view of all the lights, when they would  _ finally _ be turned on. 

Johnny had started to wiggle in her arms as soon as they got outside━too much excitement running through his body━so Vanessa had set him down and is currently crouching behind him. Her arms are wrapped tightly around him to keep him warm. 

As they wait, a small body suddenly slams into her side, almost toppling them all over. Reaching out a gloved hand to the ground to steady them, Vanessa looks over and smiles at Moses’ big grin.

“Hiya,” he greets her and she lets out a chuckle.

“Hello, Mr. Dingle,” Vanessa greets back and wraps her arm around his body once she’s straightened up from her crouched position. Moses lets out a delighted giggle before cuddling in closer. 

There’s a grumble coming from behind her and Vanessa turns her head to see a grumpy Charity make her way over to them. The smile on her face grows wider, and when Charity sees it, she narrows her eyes at her. 

“I thought this wasn’t your  _ ‘thing’ _ ,” Vanessa says when Charity stops next to her. She can almost lean against her legs, that’s how close Charity is standing to them.

“It isn’t. But then that lad of yours asked me to come watch and before I could say anything, them two were staring at me with them daft puppy dog eyes until I agreed. So, here I am.” Charity holds her arms out before letting out a shudder and quickly folding them against her chest again. “Freezing my bits off.”

Vanessa lets out a chuckle before nodding her head up at her. “Nice hat.”

She’s wearing a knitted hat with those daft flaps to cover her ears. 

Charity rolls her eyes. “Shut up. You’re one to talk.”

Vanessa simply grins back. She’s wearing a knitted raccoon hat that matches the one Johnny is wearing. It even has ears and all. It’s kind of ridiculous how beautiful she still looks in it. 

Once again Charity rolls her eyes at herself. It’s not the first time she’s had this thought━that Vanessa looks beautiful no matter what she’s wearing, or no matter what state she’s in. She could easily stare at her for hours, which is a bit daft really. 

This sudden development; this realization that she really, really likes Vanessa is a little daunting. At the least, it should feel scary, she thinks. But all she can feel when she looks at Vanessa, or is around her━or is even just thinking about her━is the feeling of warmth. A sense of calm. 

Charity feels it even now, just standing close to her, watching her cuddle and joke around with Johnny and Moses. Even Noah━who just joined them━is cracking a small smile at the three of them messing about.

When she’s around Vanessa, she can just be who she is. She can be herself. She’s been hiding away her whole life, has been hiding how she feels for weeks, even months now. Maybe she should finally own up to those feelings, maybe she should just━

“Everybody ready? Let’s count down!” A voice interrupts her inner thoughts, and the villagers all start to count down from ten. 

The boys join in too, proudly showing off their counting skills that Vanessa has been working on with them. 

“Three! Two! One!”

“Hit it, April!” A voice calls out and the girl presses the big golden button. The village is suddenly illuminated in hundreds and hundreds of lights. 

There’s a big Santa in his sleigh with his reindeer pulling it near the tree in front of Rhona’s house, on what would be the grass if it weren’t for the layer of snow. The tree next to it has red and green lights wrapped around its branches. 

The Vets has a string of multi-coloured lights hanging underneath the gutter, and a Christmas wreath in the middle of the door, matching the one on Rhona’s front door. The trees and bushes next to the building also have lights strung through their branches.

Mulberry Cottage, the B&B and The Woolpack have similar strings of multi-coloured lights hanging underneath the gutters. Against the stoney walls there are big illuminated screens with either a present, a star, or a snowflake on it in different lights. 

There are lights strung through the trees, bushes and hedges in front of the buildings as well, giving the B&B a soft blue glow, while the lights in front of the Woolpack are a soft purple. Most of the other buildings and greenery have similar decorations, all the different colours giving every building a different glow.

Even the lamp posts have strings of lights wrapped around them, bathing the street in a soft yellow glow. There are decorations everywhere, and despite the many lights, it somehow looks perfect. It’s not overwhelming, it’s just enough. Even Charity has to admit it does look kind of amazing. 

“Wow. Look Ness!” Moses excitedly yells out as he points towards Santa’s sleigh. 

“Wow!” Vanessa’s voice matches Moses’s excitement. “That looks really cool, doesn’t it?” 

Noah kneels down next to Johnny and points towards a small lit-up Santa that Charity hadn’t even noticed was leaning against the phone booth. The interaction makes her smile. Noah could be very grumpy, but he’d do anything for Moses, and apparently for Johnny now too, just to make them smile.

And as she stands here outside, listening to her son and Johnny continuing to gasp and awe at all the lights, watching Noah being so interactive with both boys, and seeing the happy smile on Vanessa’s face, something just seems to click for Charity. 

It all suddenly seems to fall in place. This is what she wants. The thoughts from earlier buzz around in her head again. The realisation clear as day. She’s been stupid for trying to fight it, for pretending that there wasn’t something more between her and Vanessa. For not speaking up sooner and admitting that she wants to be with her.

As in a girlfriend-and-girlfriend kind of way. As in having a real and honest relationship. Something she never thought she’d ever wanted to have again, especially not after all the hardship she’d been through in the past couple of years.

With her mind made up, Charity steps even closer to Vanessa and taps her on her shoulder. When those blue eyes stare up at her she feels lost for words, which isn’t a good thing right now. She simply nods her head, signaling to Vanessa to stand up. 

Vanessa does so with a confused look, letting out a small groan at the upright movement after having crouched down for so long. She opens her mouth to say something but Charity holds her hand up, because if she doesn’t say this now, she’ll most likely lose her nerve. 

“I━” Charity starts before letting out a small chuckle. “I can’t believe I’m about to say this…” 

Vanessa tilts her head a little, Charity finding the motion absolutely adorable. Taking a deep breath, she tries to gather her thoughts again. 

“I like you. Like, really, really like you. And I didn’t expect it. At all.” Charity takes another breath, moving a little closer and speaking the next words softly. “It was supposed to be a bit of fun, you and I. But then… Well, it became more. I like being around you, I like how I feel.”

Vanessa can’t believe Charity is saying this to her. She’d hoped, had agonized about it. Had wondered if it was all in her head, if she was the only one that felt this connection. But Charity’s words, the look in her eyes, show that it wasn’t just her. 

“I know it was mostly on me, this hiding and keeping our… whatever it is, a secret. But I-I don’t want that anymore. I want to go on dates with you, I want to be able to kiss you when I want without having to look over my shoulder to make sure nobody is watching. I want to hold your hand whenever I can. It’s ridiculous, but it’s true.” 

Charity takes Vanessa’s gloved hands in hers. “I know it’s taken me a while to come to this realisation, and I don’t know why, but it just clicked for me today. I just… I just needed to tell you. And to ask… If you would like to━”

“Yes.” Vanessa interrupts with a smile on her face. 

Charity stares at her before narrowing her eyes a little. “You don’t even know what I was going to ask. I could be asking you to, I don’t know, rob a bank with me.”

Vanessa gives her a pointed look. “Right. Like a true modern-day Bonnie and Clyde.”

“Fair point.” Charity rolls her eyes before squeezing Vanessa’s hands as she stares into her eyes. “But, seriously... Would you like to go on a date with me? And make this thing between us official?”

“Yes and yes.” Vanessa’s grin is brighter than any light around them. “And for the record, I really, really like you too.”

The feeling of relief makes her own smile widen. She wraps her arms around Vanessa’s waist and pulls her in closer, their lips almost touching. “No changing your mind, right?”

“Charity, just kiss me already.” Vanessa whispers against her lips and Charity is quick to oblige. 

The kiss they share is one of their softest yet. It’s just a grazing of lips against each other, before Charity decides to take Vanessa’s bottom lip between her own. 

There are gasps and whoops around them, pulling them out of their bubble, making them realize that they’re right in the middle of all the villagers. They break their kiss but keep holding each other and their eyes don’t leave the other’s. 

“No going back now,” Charity whispers and Vanessa simply shakes her head with a smile on her face. 

“Finally.” It’s Noah’s voice that reaches their ears and they both turn to look at him. He rolls his eyes. “Yeah, I know. You’re not as subtle as the two of you like to think you are.”

Vanessa lets out a chuckle before placing her hand on Charity’s cheek and pulling her closer for another kiss. When they part, Vanessa’s face lights up even more. Her eyes are shining, the grin on her face the biggest Charity has ever seen.

_ ‘Screw the lights around us,’ _ Charity thinks to herself.  _ ‘Vanessa shines brighter than all of them combined.’ _


End file.
